Absinthe!! ZOMG!!!

Myth: Absinthe causes hallucinations.

Fact: This shit will fuck you up tout suite.

I picked this stuff up when I was in Paris for Christmas. I didn't hunt overly hard or do too much research before I went. The best place I've found for absinthe info is www.feeverte.net

So I wandered into one of the bajillion beautiful little boutiques that make Paris my singular favourite city on earth and pull this bottle down off the top shelf. My most pressing concerns were that whichever absinthe I purchased contain wormwood, the supposed psychoactive chemical, and that it be brutally crammed with alcohol - Verte de Fougerolles rings in at a delightfully brutal 72%.

I'd been led to expect a beverage that stuns you with bitter aineseed and fire alcohol, and indeed, if you just slam back a shot of this stuff it'll water your eyes and put hair on your teeth, but bitter it ain't. It's almost too sweet; the flavour of licorice is borderline overpowering.

Consumed properly: slowly dribbling water over a sugar cube (sugar cube is totally unnecessary with this particular brand, at least) dilutes the flavours and turns an almost undrinkable fluid into a rather pleasant, milky-green tincture.

The neatest thing is watching the mixture "louche". As you dilute the pure absinthe with water, chemicals react to turn the initially clear beverage opaque. The result is a milky, opalescent pale green.

The experience of consuming absinthe isn't what Moulin Rouge would lead you to believe. There were no tracers, brighter colours, and there was damn sure no Kylie Minogue. There was a monsterously powerful drunk however. A staggering, reeling, loud-mouthed, giggling drunk the likes of which I'd never experienced before.

Absinthe is not the delightful hallucinatory drug its bohemian reputation would have you believe. It will seriously fuck your shit up. Tout suite.